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Road to Infrastructure Bill May Run Through Freedom Caucus

Much talked about Trump infrastructure bill has yet to be written, but the president's failure to pass a health care bill in the House has drawn Congress watchers' attention to the Freedom Caucus and the impact they may have an infrastructure bill.

During his campaign, one of the few Donald Trump policy proposals to get a white paper from his team was his trillion dollar infrastructure plan. The bill was touted by some as evidence that that President Trump would govern from the middle. Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer, even wrote his own version of an infrastructure bill with money for broadband internet, rail and bus transit along with repairs for roads and bridges. But, after the recent clash with the hard-line conservative, Freedom Caucus, some speculate that group will have more influence over the legislation than the Democrats will. "The conservative caucus is sure to play a role in the legislative fight over rebuilding the nation’s roads, bridges and highways, something Trump promised to deliver during his campaign," Melanie Zanona writes for The Hill.

Zanona suggests, "Trump’s transportation plan was always going to be a tough sell with fiscal conservatives." Now that the President has tweeted critical statements about the Caucus, some feel it will be that much harder to get the group’s support for his future legislation. "The White House is still in the early stages of crafting a proposal, but Trump has signaled that it will streamline regulatory hurdles and target transportation projects where enough advanced planning has already been completed so work can start shortly," Melanie Zanona reports. The White House is going to deliver a very different bill depending on what kind of coalition it wants to build, if the bill had some Democratic support, it could pass without any votes from the Freedom.

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